"Hey, has anyone ever told you that you've got a great look for Abercrombie & Fitch?"
Isaac blinked at the pretty young woman who was smiling at him and glanced around. "Are…are you talking to me?"
"Of course she is," the equally attractive man with the girl said brightly. Both of them looked to be a few years older than Isaac, tanned, blonde and fir. Frankly, they looked like they had wandered out of a CW casting call.
So…not really the type of people Isaac was used to being approached by randomly.
"No," he finally replied, answering the girl, his fingers clenching on the small bag he held. Usually, he avoided the mall, but it was almost Lydia's birthday and, as he now found himself somehow in her social circle, he'd braved the mall in search of a gift. He had a feeling she didn't shop at the thrift stores where he felt more comfortable.
"Well, you do! It's a fun job, good people and an awesome discount. There's a casting happening…why don't you come by?!"
A week later, Isaac found himself back at the mall, starting his first day of training. Scott had teased him playfully when Isaac told him about his new job, but overall he'd been supportive. It was nice.
"Hi, I'm…Isaac, hey!"
Turning from where he was shoving his sweater into his small locker, Isaac saw Danny Mahealani smiling at him. Like Isaac, he wore A&F jeans and no shirt, but looked far more comfortable than Isaac felt. "Danny…you work here too?"
"Yeah," Danny agreed with a wry smirk. "The token minority model, you know. But hey, I'd rather be out front than stuck in the back room."
Isaac didn't really see what was so bad about being in the back. He nodded though, because he had seen the other employees – models, who worked the store floor. They were all white.
"So…how'd you get roped into this?" Danny asked cheerfully. "I mean, I'm here because a job looks good on the college resume and the employee discount is nice."
Isaac shrugged. "I thought it might be nice to have a job that didn't involve the cemetery," he admitted. Technically, he still owned the cemetery, but he couldn't run it till he was over 18 (he got a small stipend from the appointed executor each month), but he didn't want to work there if he didn't have to and it would be nice to repay the McCalls. He was sure Melissa wouldn't accept money from him, but he could help stock the fridge, which was not cheap with two teenage werewolves in residence.
Danny winced slightly at the comment. "I can see that. Well, this is about as different as you can get. Did they take your headshots yet?"
"Yeah," Isaac agreed. That had almost made him turn down the job outright, but Derek had given him a pair of contacts to wear. Apparently, contacts were all that you needed to avoid the lens flares werewolf eyes caused in pictures. Now they were tucked away in his locker with his street clothes. "Do employees actually think they're gonna get hired to be real models?"
"Models, not employees," Danny corrected with a smile. "And management likes to tell us that the people in the ads are 'models' like us, but…nah, I don't buy it."
The irreverence made Isaac smirk. "So, what do I need to know to be a model? I told the recruiters I'm not very outgoing."
"They probably liked that," Danny told him, then struck a pose, chin raised, a little aloof and gave a short nod. "Hey, how's it going?" he drawled, then huffed and relaxed. "That's how we're supposed to greet every customer."
Isaac figured he could manage that and nodded.
Giving him an encouraging nod, Danny said, "C'mon, I'll show you how to idle around and ignore the mercilessly looped soundtrack of 90's Eurodance meets gay bar music and go nose blind to the scent of Fierce."
The store did reek of the Cologne and when he'd told Scott about his job, his Alpha had given him a tube of peppermint lip balm. Isaac knew from growing up around the graveyard that it was often used to mask bad smells. He fished the tube out of his pocket, swiped a bit under his nose before applying it to his lips. He was a little startled to see Danny's eyes followed the motion, staring at his lips for a moment before averting his gaze.
In all honesty, Isaac could count on one hand (with fingers to spare) the number of times that he'd felt attractive to others. That night at the rave with Erica, when they'd danced with Jackson and that day when Allison had kissed him to give him confidence. He'd never considered that Danny, smart, popular, nice Danny would even offhandedly consider him. It was nice and a little boost of needed self-esteem.
He gave a bashful smile. "Lead the way."
"So, after I got recruited, Jackson used to come by and hang around. Not that he wanted a job, but he expected them to fall over themselves in an attempt to hire him. He hasn't been back since he was told he was too short to be a model," Danny told Isaac as they folded a table full of jeans and t-shirts that someone had ruffled through.
The story made Isaac chuckle. "That must've driven him nuts," Isaac said quietly. Jackson did not take kindly to anyone who didn't appreciate his (and Isaac could grudgingly admit it) impressively good looks and he took any criticism as an attack.
Danny snorted. "I don't think anyone left lacrosse practice withou bruises for the next week," he said, then peered at the pile of clothes in front of Isaac. "Your folds are really neat. Are you sure you haven't worked retail before?"
"Dad was very particular about how I kept my things," Isaac told him, placing a pile of perfectly folded T-shirts on a shelf. So far, the job wasn't that bad. They greeted shoppers, straighten things and sprayed everything down with Fierce multiple times a shift. The smell was almost overpowering, even with the peppermint lip balm.
The only part he didn't like was the hands customers. Girls kept touching him and it made him nervous. They giggled and flirted and Danny played along easily. Isaac wished he had half of the other young man's social graces.
As Danny set his own shirts on the shelf, Isaac stiffened. He could hear giggles and the click of heels that warned of approaching girls. Quickly, he ducked around Danny, tucking himself into the space between the other boy and the wall.
"What are you..." he began, but then one of the girls, who obviously didn't go to Beacon Hills High (because everyone knew Danny) and thus didn't know that she was barking up the wrong tree, placed a hand on Danny shoulder.
"Excuse me!" she said brightly. "Could you help me?"
Smiling brightly, Danny turned. "Hey, how's it going? Sure, what can I help you with?"
"Can we get a picture with you guys?" She said eagerly, her friend waving a cell phone.
After the first request for a picture, on his first day, Isaac a ducked out back and put his contacts in and had taken to wearing them whenever he was working. Too many people took pictures of them to risk going without them.
"Aw, are you shy?" one of the girls asked, grinning at Isaac, who, okay, maybe he was trying to hide behind Danny. Both taller and broader, it wasn't a particularly successful attempt.
"Sorry," he murmured sheepishly. "I'm just not used to girls I don't know talking to me."
"Oh, I don't buy that," the other teased, then blinked. "Unless... Oh, are you gay?"
Isaac simply blinked, because he'd never been asked something like that quite so bluntly. Well, his father had been blunt, but far less polite and there had been fists involved, so Isaac didn't really consider that having been asked.
Danny, bless him, filled the silence with a laugh. "No, that would be me. Isaac's just a little shy."
"Bi," Isaac blurted before his brain could veto the decision. It was not something that he'd said aloud before, but he felt like he should say something. "Shy, yes, but...also bi."
"Hey Team Bisexual!" One of the girls quipped, holding up a hand. After a brief moment, Isaac gave her a very awkward high-five.
Soon after, the girls wandered off and they returned to folding the clothes. Isaac appreciated the Danny didn't push the topic, but he finally said, "I've never actually told anyone before."
With a soft smile, Danny assured him, "You don't need to tell people unless you're comfortable with doing so. It's your choice... But thanks for telling me."
Isaac took a moment to think about that, then returned Danny smile. "I am. Comfortable, I mean. For the first time in a long time. No one I care about would be upset if I told them." He was sure Scott and Melissa would be supportive and he didn't think Derek particularly cared. Stiles would probably be far too interested and would ask him horrifying questions, but even that wouldn't be out of malice.
Werewolf hunters and the bi-annual supernatural evil things that tried to kill them aside, Isaac felt his life had improved remarkably since becoming a werewolf.
TBC….